Witches:
“Fair is foul and foul is fair//hover through the fog and filthy air” - in unison
They have “beards”
“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” - ambiguous
“Your face my thane is like a book”
Described by Banquo as “not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ Earth”
Hecate is “The close contriver of all harms”
Things they put in potion - “Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting”, “Scale of dragon, tooth of
wolf”
“By the pricking of my thumbs,//Something wicked this way comes”
Macdonald:
“Merciless Macdonald”
Donaldbain:
“There’s daggers in men’s smiles;the nea’er in blood,//The nearer bloody”
Malcolm:
Traits of a good leader - “justice, verity, temp’rance, stableness”
“My first false speaking//Was this upon myself”
“I would the friends we miss were safe arrived” - admirable/caring
“Dead butcher and his fiend-like queen”
Ross:
“By th’clock ‘tis day//And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp” - implies time has
stopped, “strangles” is from semantic field of murder to show how the murder has impacted
the whole world as everything is tainted by decay
About Macduff - “He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows//The fits o’th’season”
→elevates his status
Macbeth:
“Brave Macbeth” → “Devilish Macbeth”
“Like Valour’s minion carved out his passage
“What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won”
“The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me//in borrowed robes?” - motif of clothes
“our poisoned chalice”
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,//The handle toward my hand?”
Duncan says “O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” - situational irony
“We have scorched the snake, not killed it”
“This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongue” - Malcolm about Macbeth
“Now he does feel his title//Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe//Upon a dwarfish thief”
“This mind I sway by and the heart I bear//Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear”
“Cream faced”, “lily-livered”, “linen cheeks” - extended metaphor of white to bully servant
“Pluck”, “raze”, “cleanse” - imperatives at start of lines show his desire to help Lady Macbeth
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”, “Life’s but a walking shadow”, “full of sound and
fury” - Macbeth reacting to wife dying
Lady Macbeth:
“Fair is foul and foul is fair//hover through the fog and filthy air” - in unison
They have “beards”
“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” - ambiguous
“Your face my thane is like a book”
Described by Banquo as “not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ Earth”
Hecate is “The close contriver of all harms”
Things they put in potion - “Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting”, “Scale of dragon, tooth of
wolf”
“By the pricking of my thumbs,//Something wicked this way comes”
Macdonald:
“Merciless Macdonald”
Donaldbain:
“There’s daggers in men’s smiles;the nea’er in blood,//The nearer bloody”
Malcolm:
Traits of a good leader - “justice, verity, temp’rance, stableness”
“My first false speaking//Was this upon myself”
“I would the friends we miss were safe arrived” - admirable/caring
“Dead butcher and his fiend-like queen”
Ross:
“By th’clock ‘tis day//And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp” - implies time has
stopped, “strangles” is from semantic field of murder to show how the murder has impacted
the whole world as everything is tainted by decay
About Macduff - “He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows//The fits o’th’season”
→elevates his status
Macbeth:
“Brave Macbeth” → “Devilish Macbeth”
“Like Valour’s minion carved out his passage
“What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won”
“The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me//in borrowed robes?” - motif of clothes
“our poisoned chalice”
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,//The handle toward my hand?”
Duncan says “O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” - situational irony
“We have scorched the snake, not killed it”
“This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongue” - Malcolm about Macbeth
“Now he does feel his title//Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe//Upon a dwarfish thief”
“This mind I sway by and the heart I bear//Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear”
“Cream faced”, “lily-livered”, “linen cheeks” - extended metaphor of white to bully servant
“Pluck”, “raze”, “cleanse” - imperatives at start of lines show his desire to help Lady Macbeth
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”, “Life’s but a walking shadow”, “full of sound and
fury” - Macbeth reacting to wife dying
Lady Macbeth:
